As we enter the new year CHP and local police forces have been setting up sobriety checkpoints all over the Bay Area.  Most DUI arrests at checkpoints go unchallenged in Court.  This lack of challenge to these warrantless stops has resulted in officers going beyond what the courts have authorized them to do at checkpoints. 

 On two recent occasions I have challenged sobriety checkpoint arrests in San Francisco and won.  On both occasions the Court has agreed with me and granted the motions to suppress the evidence against my clients.   About two weeks ago the Court was outraged by the police conduct at at one of these checkpoints.  At least half the rules governing the checkpoint were not met and the 20-30 officers assigned to the checkpoint made only one DUI arrest all night (arresting my client).   After the court tossed that arrest, we have well over 100 police hours, much of it probably overtime, and no DUI convictions to show for it.  What did that cost the city and state?

 If you have been arrested at a Sobriety Checkpoint for Drunk Driving this holiday season, hire a DUI lawyer who has won one of these cases recently and assert your constitutional rights.  Another law office besides the Law Offices of Aaron Bortel that has had success with these illegal checkpoints is the Law Offices of Kapsack and Bair.